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Problem 1993

National Olympiad, first round
Algebra Difficulty 6.8 Prove it Romanian Mathematical Olympiad · Romania

Find all non constant polynomial functions f:[0,1]→R∗f: [0, 1] \to \mathbb{R}^*, having rational coefficients, for which the following property holds: for every xx in [0,1][0, 1], there exist two polynomial functions gx,hx:[0,1]→Rg_x, h_x: [0, 1] \to \mathbb{R}, with rational coefficients, such that hx(x)≠0h_x(x) \neq 0 and
∫0x1f(t)dt=gx(x)hx(x). \int_0^x \frac{1}{f(t)} dt = \frac{g_x(x)}{h_x(x)}.

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Official solution

The required functions are f(x)=a(x−b)nf(x) = a(x-b)^n, 0≤x≤10 \le x \le 1, where nn is an integer greater than 11, and aa and bb are rational numbers, a≠0a \neq 0 and b∉[0,1]b \notin [0, 1]. Clearly, these functions satisfy the conditions in the statement.

Since the closed unit interval [0,1][0, 1] is uncountable, and there are only countably many polynomial functions with rational coefficients, there exist an uncountable set S⊆[0,1]S \subseteq [0, 1] and coprime polynomial functions g,h:[0,1]→Rg, h: [0, 1] \to \mathbb{R} with rational coefficients such that h(x)≠0h(x) \neq 0 and ∫0x1f(t)dt=g(x)h(x)\int_0^x \frac{1}{f(t)} dt = \frac{g(x)}{h(x)}, for all xx in SS. Since at most countably many points of SS are not accumulation points of SS, and SS is uncountable, it follows that SS contains infinitely many of its accumulation points. At each of these points, the rational functions 1/f1/f and (g/h)′=(g′h−gh′)/h2(g/h)' = (g'h - gh')/h^2 are equal, so
h2=f⋅(g′h−gh′)(∗) h^2 = f \cdot (g'h - gh') \quad (*)
in Q[X]\mathbb{Q}[X]. Since deg⁡f≥1\deg f \ge 1, it follows that deg⁡g≤deg⁡h\deg g \le \deg h. Notice that the remainder of gg upon division by hh also satisfies (*) to assume henceforth deg⁡g<deg⁡h\deg g < \deg h, so deg⁡(g′h−gh′)=deg⁡g+deg⁡h−1\deg (g'h - gh') = \deg g + \deg h - 1.

If deg⁡h=1\deg h = 1, then deg⁡g=0\deg g = 0 and f=a(X−b)2f = a(X - b)^2, where aa and bb are rational numbers, a≠0a \neq 0 and b∉[0,1]b \notin [0, 1].

If deg⁡h≥2\deg h \ge 2, since gg and hh are coprime, (*) implies that every kk-fold root (not necessarily real) of g′h−gh′g'h - gh' is a (k+1)(k+1)-fold root of hh, so deg⁡h≥deg⁡g+deg⁡h−1+d\deg h \ge \deg g + \deg h - 1 + d, where dd is the number of distinct roots of g′h−gh′g'h - gh'. Consequently, d=1d = 1 and deg⁡g=0\deg g = 0, so gg is a non-zero constant, h=c(X−b)nh = c(X - b)^n, where bb and cc are rational, b∉[0,1]b \notin [0, 1], c≠0c \neq 0, and nn is an integer greater than 11, and f=a(X−b)n+1f = a(X - b)^{n+1} for some non-zero rational aa.

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